Throwing words at Dick Cheney

Is there anyone in America less suited to raise the question of truthfulness when it comes to Iraq?

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November 17, 2005 7:14PM (UTC)

Much is being made of Dick Cheney's world-turned-upside-down comments on Iraq yesterday, but AMERICAblog's John Aravosis zooms in right on the money quote. "The President and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory, or their backbone -- but we're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history," Cheney said. "We're going to continue throwing their own words back at them."

Dick Cheney, Oct. 10, 2003: Saddam Hussein "had an established relationship with al Qaeda, providing training to al Qaeda members in the areas of poisons, gases, making conventional bombs."

Dick Cheney, Jan. 21, 2004: "I think there's overwhelming evidence that there was a connection between al-Qaida and the Iraqi government. I'm very confident that there was an established relationship there."

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We could go on and on -- there are congressional reports and Web sites filled with false statements Cheney made about Iraq -- but we wouldn't want anyone to accuse us of breaching the "basic measure of truthfulness and good faith" the vice president deems appropriate in political debate. So we'll leave it with this, an oldie-but-goodie from the vice president we find ourselves remembering every time an additional U.S. soldier is killed in Iraq.

You know the one.

When Tim Russert asked the vice president in March 2003 whether Americans were ready for "a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties," Cheney said not to worry: "Well, I don't think it's likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators."

Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.